Developments are developing quickly! In no particular order:
- I have been convinced that we should stop calling it the Ground Zero Mosque. ‘Cause it’s not at Ground Zero. Why, you can’t even see the crater from there! Sure, the old Burlington Coat Factory building was close enough to the WTC to get hit by the landing gear from one of the planes, which is why it shut down for good after 9/11. But that doesn’t make it part of Ground Zero. (What are you, some kinda rube?) Therefore, I propose we start calling it the 9/11 Debris Field Mosque.
- Did you know there also strip clubs and fast-food joints in that neighborhood? There sure are. There’s even OTB! Cities have all sorts of different businesses all crowded together, you dumb hayseed. That means you’re a bigot if you don’t like the idea of building a mega-mosque in that specific spot, even if you don’t have a problem with the other mosques in that neighborhood, or any other neighborhood. (And please don’t call it “hallowed ground,” even though Obama did Friday night.)
- Can you guess the latest right-wing Islamophobe to oppose a mosque in that specific place? I’ll bet you can’t!
- I just had an interesting discussion on Twitter about the whole thing with our own Ruth Graham. (If you don’t recognize the name, Keith Olbermann does.) You can read it here, if you don’t mind working your way backwards through the conversation. We were talking past each other a bit, which was probably my fault.
- Israel’s Haaretz newspaper is reporting that the backers of the Ground Z– er, of the 9/11 Debris Field Mosque, AKA Cordoba House, AKA Park 51, are reconsidering. Park 51 has taken to Twitter to insist everything’s still on track.
- Park 51 also sent this bridge-building, togetherness-bringing tweet,
which was then deleted(it’s still there, just not visible on their main Twitter page), but not before Red Eye‘s Andy Levy saw it:
- Speaking of Red Eye guys on Twitter, here’s why I love Greg Gutfeld, AND I DO MEAN LOVE. As you may know, he’s planning to build a Muslim gay bar next to the mosque that’s not actually at Ground Zero, and I think he’s settled on a name:
So there you go. Boy, I can’t wait to see what these Park 51 guys do next to bring people together and facilitate understanding. So far they’re doing an awesome job!!
